Can Affordable Drugstore Makeup Give Mature Skin A Luxe Look For Under $51?

Beauty Thought Leader: Elise Marquam-Jahns

In fact, I just purchased a cowl neck draped top with side shirring that is beautifully figure-flattering for a sale price of just $21.00 and I’m pretty excited about it.    

Less Expensive Drugstore Makeup:

No matter our age, finding a great bargain is a bit of a high and it actually does activate the reward center in our brain. And that release of dopamine results in a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. But I would venture to say that even though we love a good bargain, none of us wants to sacrifice an expensive-looking, upscale result—whether in clothing or makeup.

So the question today is:  do we have to spend a small fortune on makeup products to look amazing–or can we buy far less expensive drugstore makeup formulas and still look fabulous? That’s exactly what we’ll be testing in today’s accompanying video.

I’ll use a variety of inexpensive makeup products from six different drugstore brands. And toward the end of today’s video I’ll experiment and try something I’ve never tried before and I have absolutely no idea if it will work or not! So stay tuned.  

“I’ll use a variety of inexpensive makeup products from six different drugstore brands.”

Elf’s Wow Brow:

I filled in my brows with the first of our products today: Elf’s Wow Brow. This Elf product is a non-negotiable “must have” in my makeup drawer. That’s because my brows seem to be getting sparser, whiter and greyer by the day. Can anyone else relate to this? Elf’s Wow Brow is only $5.00 and it’s a buildable, fiber-infused tinted brow gel which comes in four shades and adds fullness to our brows. It can be used on its own or as a top coat over brow powders or pencils. 

For a long time I’ve been looking for a drugstore eye primer that would match my skin tone. Milani makes a great eye primer, but it’s clear and most of us need an eye primer that matches our skin tone so we can cover up any discoloration on our eyelids. Covering up that discoloration is so important for those of us with mature skin because it makes our eyes look bigger and brighter and helps eyeshadow apply more evenly and last longer without creasing and smudging.

So I want to give a shout out and thanks to Phyllis who in a comment on one of my recent YouTube videos suggested the eye primer I’ll use today for the first time. It’s Profusion’s pigment based eyeshadow primer in the shade “Neutral” which I found for $4.31 at my nearby WalMart.  

Bite Size Eyeshadow Palettes:

Elf’s Bite Size Eyeshadow palettes are an amazing bargain at just $3.00 and there are 9 palettes with different color combinations. To be honest, these palettes do vary a bit in quality, but these four are excellent: the “I Love You a Latte” palette which you’ve heard me mention a lot if you watch my videos, the warmer toned “Pumpkin Pie” palette, the deeper “Truffle Palette,” and the lighter “Cream and Sugar” palette.

I also enjoy the “Carnival Candy” palette, but the formula is a little more challenging to work with than the four palettes I just mentioned.   Since I almost always automatically reach for my “I Love You a Latte” palette, I’m going to change it up a bit today by using the “Cream and Sugar” palette. And I’ll use the deepest shade for my eyeliner.  

Because of my very sensitive eyes I haven’t yet found a drugstore mascara that I can wear without experiencing some irritation, but two really excellent inexpensive mascaras that most people can use are the Essence Lash Without Limits Extreme Lengthening and Volume Mascara—which is $4.99—and L’Oreal’s Lash Paradise Mascara which is $9.97. If you have a favorite drugstore mascara, please let us know the one you love in the comment section below.  

Flawless Satin Foundation:

Now that our eyes are done, let’s move onto our face makeup. Two foundations from Elf are really quite good: their Flawless Satin Foundation which is $6.00 and their more recently released Soft Glam Satin Foundation which is $8.00. But today I’m going to go with what I think is an amazing foundation for the price: Wet and Wild’s Photo Focus Foundation which comes in both a matte and a dewy finish.

It’s a very lightweight moisturizing formula which is buildable and blends in quite seamlessly. I actually found it for $3.50, but as we all know, prices do vary at different locations—as they do for all of the products I’ll be mentioning today. I’m going to cheat just a little by combining a drop of the matte version with a drop of the dewy finish.  

One of my very favorite concealers—out of all of my concealers—is Elf’s Hydrating Camo Concealer which at $7.00 is an incredible bargain. It comes in 25 shades and is a lightweight, satin, blendable formula. I find the doe foot applicator to be a little too large to use on its own, so I like to pick up the product with one of my brushes. This Elf concealer is what I’ll be using under my eyes and to pat on where I need a little more coverage.  

“This Elf concealer is what I’ll be using under my eyes and to pat on where I need a little more coverage.”

Ultra Creamy Bronzer:

For contour I’ll apply my $4.00 Revolution Ultra Creamy Bronzer which comes in a light, medium and deep shade. I’ll be using the light, but I sometimes like to combine the light and medium shades to get a slightly deeper shade. Another great option is Wet and Wild’s Megaglow Makeup Stick Contour in the shade “Where’s Walnut” which I saw at Ulta for $3.47. It’s not quite as creamy and easy to apply as the Revolution product which is why I’m not using it today.  

One of the products I’m using today which I’m most excited about is the liquid blush which Elf launched earlier this year. It’s their Camo Liquid blush line which originally included nine colors but which has now expanded to 12. And one of the newer shades is called “Bold Faced Lilac” which is a lavender lilac shade that is right up my alley and which I can’t wait to try.

The two other new shades are “Copper Etiquette” which is a rosy copper shade and “Cheeky Lychee” which is a neutral pink. I’m going to go with the shade “Pinky Promise,” but just for the fun of it I’ll mix “Pinky Promise” with “Comin’ in Hot Pink” to see the shade we come up with.  

A Drugstore Highlighter:

A good highlighter is a must for me since a bit of glow is especially helpful for mature skin. My drugstore highlighter of choice is one I’ve been using for a number of years and still love. It’s Wet and Wild’s Megalow Liquid Highlighter in the shade “Halo, Goodbye” which costs $4.21. It’s also available in 4 other shades. It contains shimmering pearl pigments and feels really lovely on the skin since it’s very hydrating.   It includes Murumuru Seed Butter, Grapeseed Oil and Vitamin E.  

For my lips I’ll use my regular lip liner standby which is L’Oreal’s Age Perfect Lip liner, but Revlon and LA Girl also makes some great lip liners as well. Unfortunately ,the L’Oreal Age Perfect line has been discontinued, so if you like any products from this line, it’s a good time to snap them up before they’re gone. I’ve ordered extras of all the lip liner colors.  

For my lipstick I’m going to experiment and try something just a little different that I’ve never tried before.  I’m going to use my Elf Liquid Camo blush as my lip color. I’ll apply the Wet and Wild Megalow Liquid Highlighter on top of it as my gloss. 

Drugstore makeup products have certainly come a long way in the past few years!  I feel that the ones I’ve shared with you today are some of the best for mature skin and truly do rival their high-end counterparts which would cost far more than the $50.20 I spent on today’s products.  I hope you’ll share with us some of your drugstore favorites.

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